Sunday, June 2, 2013

"Extreme Romance" in YA & NA.

Dear Author,
one of our favourite sites, recently had an excellent post examining the appeal
of the now infamous 50 Shades series as well as that of self-publishing
sensation Kristen Ashley. Ashley, who is an extremely prolific writer, has
attracted a massive fanbase with her alpha male romances, the most popular of
which centre on motorcycle gangs, law enforcement and the like. Personally, I find
both Ashley and James’s work to be hilariously bad in terms of their prose
(Ashley’s devotion to the run-on sentence is a continuing source of pain) and
cringe-worthy in terms of their dynamics portrayed. I admit it: I don’t like
alpha males, I hate romanticised “claiming” of women and I absolutely loathe
abuse portrayed as love. So the appeal of these kinds of romances will forever elude
me. Call me old fashioned but the moment a man starts talking about how a woman
is “his”, I’m consumed by an overwhelming desire to run away and buy some
pepper spray.

These kinds of all-consuming romances are hardly old hat in
publishing, both adult and YA. It feels as if we spend most of our time on The
Book Lantern discussing the rape culture and romanticised abuse ever present in
modern mainstream YA and NA. The latter in particular has fallen in deep with
this trope to the point where it seems as if the entire category of New Adult
is limited to contemporary romances with a huge dollop of sexism on top. I get
that for a lot of women, this is an extremely desirable fantasy to have. That’s
one thing. The issue here is that these particular kinds of romances have saturated
the genre and category to the point where it seems as if they’re the only
option available to readers. Not only did extreme romance become the norm, it
became the expected romantic mode.

So what’s the appeal of “extreme romance” for readers of YA
and NA? First we need to look at who these readers are. The expected answer for
YA fans is, of course, teenagers, but we all know that it’s not so simple these
days. With over half of YA recent purchasers being adults, the category seems
tilted in favour of the adult audience, one with more disposable income than
the average teenager. This audience is the primary target of NA, in my opinion.
The romances in the work of Abbi Glines, S.C. Stephens and Jamie McGuire, for
example, operate in much the same way that the all-consuming passions of
Twilight and Hush Hush, only consummating the love isn’t considered heinous.

Next, we need to look at what the term “extreme romance”
suggests. Personally, I’m disappointed whenever the word “extreme” turns up and
there are no explosions involved. In this context, explosion free, “extreme
romance” conjures up images of the highly dramatic: soap opera style arguments,
passionate embraces in the rain, wall banging orgasms every time you have sex,
the overwhelming, all-consuming passionate love that you literally can’t live without.
Extreme suggests risk and danger, and isn’t all that positive sounding. However,
even I can admit to seeing the appeal in the idea of a gorgeous man who fits
the general definition of “perfect” having eyes for you and only you. Not only
does he love you wholeheartedly but his entire life is ruled by that love. It’s
not a new model of romance, it’s been around as love as love stories have been.
Why is it so popular now, particularly with the teen/new adult age group? That’s
a thesis I’m not quite ready to write.

The interesting thing about this “extreme romance” in the
context of YA is that it’s still incredibly safe and predictable for the
reader. We never doubt for one second throughout four books in the Twilight
series that Bella and Edward will end up together. Nobody is ever in any real
danger because the author is not emotionally prepared to put her characters
through that, nor is she distant enough from her own creation to have real
dangers to the relationship unfold. Dating a vampire with control issues is “safe”
for Bella, even if it’s a potential landmine of sexism and rape culture. This
can also be applied to a huge chunk of the paranormal romance canon of the past
6 or 7 years. Even in a dangerous world of mythical creatures, the
relationships are never actually at risk, no matter how many red herrings or
tired plot points are thrown in (I’m looking at you, Mortal Instruments). No amount
of desperate love triangles will threaten the designated pairing.

This extends to NA, where contemporary romances rule the
roost. Romance is grounded in its rules of safety. Happy ever after or go home.
Granted, there’s usually a lot of angst thrown in the way but the basic pattern
remains the same. The reader lives vicariously through a new and shocking tale
of romance at its highest peak of emotion with the knowledge that no matter how
much anguish one must endure, “love” will win (note the quotation marks around
love because dear god I refuse to refer to anything that happens in a Jamie
McGuire or S.C. Stephens book as love). There’s a certain appeal to the kind of
romance that relinquishes a woman of her control, leaving her able to just give
in and have someone else take care of the big issues. There may be some sparky
dialogue that “proves” how equally matched the pair are but in the end it’s
marriage and babies and love saving the day, then sex (after the wedding for
YA, before it for NA, pretty much every time).

The issue with extreme romance isn’t that it exists – your kink
is not my kink – but that it’s the sole option available right now in the
categories. The all-consuming angle somewhat fits with the rush of first love that’s
so appealing to many young women. However, there’s a huge difference between the
adrenaline of first love and the possessive nature of the “extreme romance”,
and when that’s the only thing you can see in YA and NA, that becomes a problem
because the problematic elements are normalised to the point where we dismiss
them as just par for the course. NA is currently a Formula 1 style race to the
top, with self-publishing leading the way and prolific writers churning out generic
stories as quick as they can to keep up with trends and make a bit of money, so
the category hasn’t had a chance to settle down and evolve beyond extreme
romance. Perhaps with time that will change. Now that YA has moved somewhat
beyond the sparkly bandwagon and is on the lookout for pastures fresh, we’ll
find something a little less extreme.